Many [female rats] were unable to carry pregnancy to full term or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Among the males the behavior disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic overactivity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organization of the animals showed equal disruption. [...]

It is more than obvious that the two parties represent the two ends of the spectrum and you are not going to eliminate the behavioral sink party until you eliminate behavioral sinks. And efforts to change behavior by politics are for the most part useless. And I might add counterproductive.

The party that claims to be so in touch with natural law is for the most part ignorant of it.

Here is an article that discusses the issue from a thermodynamic viewpoint.

What is my conclusion relative to politics? Both political parties are right about the proper way to live. In their ecological niches.

A look at the Weimar Republic:

What people leave out of the Weimar experience and IMO its foundation is the lack of men – killed in the war. We are doing something similar with our divorce laws. And our drug war on the Black Community.

And the 60s? Similar. Look up the M/F ratios.

When there are not enough men you get loose women. Culture dives when the M/F ratio is out of whack.

Friday, July 19, 2013

I have a new post up at Rockford For Safe Access discussing the scientific and anecdotal evidence between autism and the body's endocannabinoid system. It includes a number of videos about treating autistic children with cannabis.

While Lindsey and Sarah were vacationing, along with Lindsey’s husband Josh (the director of Idaho NORML), their four children were staying with a babysitter when police, acting on a tip from an elementary school friend of one of their boys, arrived with child protective services. The police, without a warrant, intimidated the babysitter into allowing them into the home, where they allegedly found Lindsey’s medical marijuana. Based on that imminent threat to the children, all four boys, ages 11, 10, 6, and 5, were placed into foster care.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Classical Liberal links to a post of mine They Really Don't Like Libertarians and then goes off on a rant of his own. You really, really, should read the whole thing. Especially since he accurately pegs where I used to live politically. "a libertarian who's been a long-time conservative ally" - and "been" is the operative word. I am no longer except in matters of convenience. Just as I will ally with Democrats in matters of convenience. Like Medical Marijuana

Thursday, March 07, 2013

I did this piece for a major Right Wing site I have written for before. It was rejected for a number of reasons.

1. The punch line "Marijuana" wasn't mentioned until later in the piece.
2. It was too technical.
3. The evidence is probably accidental correlation.

And most important:

4. The audience would not be receptive generally.
5. The audience would not be receptive to being called Drug Nazis.

Which was in fact an admission that they are Drug Nazis. Because I never said it directly. What I said was my usual:

Medical Marijuana prohibition is a crime against humanity and a violation of the religious precept - heal the sick.

I guess I cut a little too close to the bone. Amputations can be crippling.

=================

Endocannabinoids - The Science

Today I'd like to do something Republicans do when confronted with a question. Look at the science. The science I'd like to look at is the science of endocannabinoids. Let's start with a definition. An endocannabinoid is a marijuana-like substance produced by the body that acts on specific receptors in the body. There are two known cannabinoid receptor systems in the body. They are the CB1 system and the CB2 system.

Since this is for a non-biochemistry trained audience (I'm an electrical engineer by trade) I'm going to make some simplifications. Those of you who are better trained please excuse my lapses unless they are egregious.

The CB1 system is mostly distributed in nerve tissue of the brain and the spine. The CB2 system is found in the immune system, the peripheral nervous system, the brain, and the digestive system. Various endocannabinoids in the body can either activate or inhibit the operation of the various systems by binding to the receptors in the system. Regulation is achieved by a balance of the chemicals involved. The systems can also evolve by increasing or decreasing the number of receptor sites in response to stimulation (bonding) or a lack of stimulation to those sites.

One of the neurotransmitters in the body that affects these systems is called anandamide which comes from a Sanskrit word which means bliss. The CB1 and CB2 receptors in the body were discovered by tracking where delta9-THC (one of the active ingredients in marijuana) traveled in the body and which receptors it was bound to. From the facts developed by that kind of study a team led by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam at the Hebrew University in Israel discovered the anandamide molecule. As discoverers they got to name it. Dr. Mechoulam is one of the pioneers in the field of cannabinoid science. Why he hasn't won a Nobel for his work is beyond me, unless it has something to do with the prejudices against cannabis. Let me quote (slightly edited for ease of text rendering) from his wiki:

Raphael Mechoulam (born 1930) is an Israeli professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Mechoulam is best known for his work (together with Y. Gaoni) in the isolation, structure elucidation and total synthesis of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active principle of cannabis and for the isolation and the identification of the endogenous cannabinoids anandamide from the brain and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) from peripheral organs together with his students, postdocs and collaborators.

All the above is probably enough general information to get you started if you want to delve deeper into the subject matter. Now I want to look at a more controversial aspect of all this. Marijuana. And specifically medical marijuana. As you can see from the above information, cannabinoids in the body affect a large number of systems in the body. I particularly like this quote from the CB2 wiki on the subject.

Changes in endocannabinoid levels and/or CB2 receptor expressions have been reported in almost all diseases affecting humans,[34] ranging from cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, liver, kidney, neurodegenerative, psychiatric, bone, skin, autoimmune, lung disorders to pain and cancer. The prevalence of this trend suggests that modulating CB2 receptor activity by either selective CB2 receptor agonists or inverse agonists/antagonists depending on the disease and its progression holds unique therapeutic potential for these pathologies [34]

That explains why some people claim wonder drug status for marijuana. Except things are not quite as simple as that. Marijuana is not marijuana. What do I mean by that? The anandamide analogs in cannabis are called generically CBDs. They include such chemicals as Cannabigerols (CBG), Cannabidiols (CBD), Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), Cannabinol (CBN), and a number of other compounds. Their expression in a given cannabis plant varies. Some of the cannabinoids bind to various CB system receptors and some of them prevent binding to a receptor, mimicking the function of the various endocannabinoids in the body. So marijuana is not marijuana. Since there is no regulation in the marijuana industry due to its illegality at the Federal level this has led to various novel names for the different cannabis strains. Names such as "Northern Lights" and "Charlotte's Web". "Charlotte's Web" was named for a child with severe pediatric epilepsy. The strain called "Charlotte's Web" was developed especially to treat her condition. Thus the name. You can check out this eleven minute video introduced by a doctor and her mother to learn more about how this strain was developed and used.

Well obviously we need regulation of medical marijuana. Don't we? My answer is yes. Absolutely. But surprisingly what we are getting is self regulation. And it seems to be working fairly well. Various companies are springing up to fill the analysis void. They do High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy on submitted marijuana samples to determine the quantities of the various CBDs in the samples. One such company is SC Laboratories in California, but there are a number of others around the country in medical marijuana states.

Obviously the subject is involved and I could go on at much greater length. But I'm not going to do that. Instead I'll leave you with what I think are a few more helpful links.

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Europe's political class is shocked and panicked. They are pretending Grillo is just a "populist" and a "reformer" -- but he also wants to "process" all the Jews in the world, who are responsible for all the evil. Grillo wants to nationalize the banks and abolish interest rates, "just like the Islamic Development Bank."

Well as you know banks can't survive without interest. So Grillo wants to destroy the banking system. But as I recount here the banking system can't survive without the black market. Particularly the black market in drugs. which brings us back to the original link.

Government at all levels is corrupt. It's the only way people can survive. Everybody is playing double games. People are doing two jobs and running their own businesses out of government offices. Everybody cheats on taxes. The mafia controls half the country. Survival depends on the black market, the black economy. The currency is kept artificially high, so exports crash.

It's happened to Italy under the European Union. Don't think it can't happen here. Obama is a Euro socialist, representing faculty lounge socialism in America, so completely arrogant and cocksure that Paul Krugman just knows how to run the trillion-dollar US economy. Nobody else can figure it out, but Krugman knows that he knows. Our new rulers are control freaks, just as free market economists have said since Adam Smith. They are six year olds steering the family car and thinking they are in control until...

... until it all blows up.

This week Europe blew up. The media haven't caught up yet, because they are what they are. But the markets are catching up fast.

This is a huge event for the United States, because our political elite is bound and determined to turn us into Europe. Hasn't the EU found the answer to war and peace and prosperity forever?

There is way more at that link (you should check out the comments too to get a taste) but what is Movimento 5 Stelle's (Movement 5 Star - M5S) program? American Thinker has a list.

1. High-flying jets spray mind-altering chemicals over Rome to drive Italians crazy. Those are the jet "chemtrails" you can see overhead.

2. A good bloodletting will purify your body and cure any disease. This is the word of God. But flu vaccines are dangerous.

4. The Jews are a small, wandering minority of Arabs who stole the Holy Land from the others 2,500 years ago.

5. They now run the world through the Illuminati, the Masonic Lodges, the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds.

6. The Jews are responsible for Italy's mess, because they own the banks that charge usurious interest rates.

7. The woman-hating mullahs in Iran represent ancient Persian civilization, the most advanced culture in the world.

8. Cancer chemotherapy is a Big Pharma conspiracy to kill patients.

9. GMO food will kill you, along with nanoparticles.

10. The Jews who run the world need to be "processed" en masse. Grillo supporters will not define "processed," but they love the idea. Whatever it means.

11. Beppe Grillo can save Italy by nationalizing the banks and cutting off trade to Europe. The fact that Italy is physically part of Europe is no impediment.

Gee. That has certain correspondences with the National Socialist movement that once ravaged Europe. Well it is some 70+ years on and it looks like they intend to ravage it again with their former allies the Islamic Fascists. Except this time it is not the Muslim Brotherhood. It is the Persian Fascists. Grillo's father-in-law is on the commercial side of those fascists. This article goes into that.

...Beppe Grillo is married to a lady born in Iran, where children soak up Death to Israel! Death to America! slogans ... every single day of the week. So do all the soldiers, bureaucrats, Revolutionary Guards, and the Basiji -- the regimes imported thugs from the countryside.

Beppe tells the world that "Everything I know about the Middle East I learned from my father-in-law!"

After marrying his Iranian wife, by some miracle, Beppe suddenly got a lot richer. His public career took off, and from being a comedian he became a politician. Or maybe just an idealistic truth-teller to a corrupt Italian state.

Beppe bought his motor yacht and his Ferrari, then purchased three separate villas.

Dad-in-law runs a giant construction business in Iran, where he has to lie in bed with the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guards every day of his life.

So Beppe learns everything about the Middle East from his dad-in-law, who maybe gets it straight from the Ayatollah himself. (Who heard it directly from Allah.)

The Italians have learned nothing from their history. Perhaps we can learn something from their history and current events before it is too late.

Because every human being born has an endocannabinoid system, a network of receptors exclusively designed to capture cannabinoids and process them. Prohibiting the only source of cannabinoids, Cannabis, aka marijuana et al, prevents this receptor network from functioning. Everyone has this receptor network and everyone should be allowed to supply it.

That wording is a little clunky. I would have written that cannabis can aid the functions of the endocannabinoid network when necessary. But it fits in with something I have been saying:

Medical Marijuana prohibition is a crime against humanity and a violation of the religious precept - heal the sick.

Friday, November 23, 2012

The al Qaeda terror group has embraced heroin trafficking to such an extent that its leader, Osama bin Laden, is now a "narco-terrorist," says a U.S. congressman just back from a fact-finding mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Dekkers, the owner of Huffman Aviation, purchased the flight school at just about the time the terrorist pilots moved into town and began their lessons. Atta and al-Shehhi paid $28,000 each for flight instruction that was available nearby for a fraction of the price. Yeslam bin Laden also provided several students for training at Huffman, though he claims to be estranged from his step-brother.224

Dekkers had reportedly been indicted in his native Holland on charges that included fraud and money laundering. More might have been known about Dekkers’ dubious history, but following 9/11, the FBI removed the files at Huffman, and loaded them onto a C-130 military cargo plane at the Sarasota airport, which took off for Washington with governor Jeb Bush on board.225

Wally Hilliard, Dekkers’ financier, entered the aviation business in Florida with an assortment of criminal and covert intelligence elements. Less than three months before the two terrorists began flight training, a Learjet owned by Hilliard, carrying 43 pounds of heroin, was seized by the DEA. Charges were dropped for “lack of evidence”, but the DEA refused to return Hilliard his plane. Hilliard had gotten his Learjet from World Jet Inc, owned by drug smuggling brothers Don and Bill Whittington, who had supplied Barry Seal his plane.226

Hilliard was then loaned a plane, a Beechcraft King Air 200, worth over $2 million, by Truman Arnold, for only one dollar. The plane was conveyed from Arnold to a Hilliard company, Oryx, founded by Sheikh Kamal Adham, former director of Saudi intelligence, and BCCI front-man, and Adnan Khashoggi.227

Is any of this true? Who knows? But as I said above. It is interesting.

Update: If you tuned in earlier I have changed the videos and some of the links to give a more complete picture. For instance the video on this page is a longer version of the original.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Eric has a post up about a flashlight I'm developing. I'm not going to tell you everything about it in a public forum - yet. Let me just say that it is quite small and uses ordinary batteries. The prototype pictured below uses a standard 6 volt lantern battery case because they are low cost and have lots of room inside for doing different variations. Here is a picture Eric took of the prototype.

What I want to do next is to develop a version much closer to the final design. I also need to do more extensive testing including a more exact determination of battery life and operational temperature range. For that I'm going to need the help of a mechanical engineer and some cash. At this point I'm looking for Angels rather than investors because I have no vehicle that people can legally put money into in the hopes of a return. In fact that is one of the things that needs to be developed to make the light a commercial success. Eric and one of our commenters have been my Angels so far, so they are definitely in on the ground floor as is the First Mate who has helped me considerably by being a personal supporter of my efforts and doing a bunch of grunt work including pulling money out of her food budget when needed to make things happen.

Interested parties can leave a comment here or contact me by e-mail.

And if you are concerned about my engineering ability you can read my columns at ECN Magazine. I have done everything from commercial work to aerospace engineering with a focus on Research and Development.

Obama Count Down Clock

Disclosure of Materiality

According to FTC regulations I am required to disclose any material benefit I receive from any blog post.
OK.
I get paid from Amazon if you order from any of the links provided. I will give you an honest opinion of any products I have ordered if I blog about them.
If you don't trust me read the Amazon reviews. If there is no review you are on your own.
If you pay me enough and promise to cover my lawyers fees I may say something nice about you. Or I may not. Enough is generally more than you can afford. Unless you have a a really really big bank account or more that a few large gold bars under the mattress.
If you do pay I expect to be transported to a country with no extradition treaty with the US.
If I review a book it may be because the author or publisher sent me a review copy. Other wise I will quote a review of some one else. If I say a product looks interesting it is because it interests me. Sometimes I will link to books so you can educate yourself on a subject and so I can make some off the sale.
If some one employs me I will probably say good things about them as long as the money keeps coming. Or I may say nothing. To keep out of trouble with their lawyers.
That covers most of what I can think of. I'm getting old and sometimes I don't think of everything.
And if you have read this far please Buy Something From Amazon. I can use the money - well actually I will use the proceeds to buy something from Amazon. I get a better deal that way.